The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday approved reappointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank for a period of three years effective October 4, the lender said in an exchange filing.
“RBI has, vide its letter…dated September 11, 2023, approved the re-appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as managing director & CEO of the bank with effect from October 4, 2023 till October 3, 2026,” the notice said. It added that shareholders of the bank had already approved the reappointment of Bakhshi at the annual general meeting held on August 30.
Bakhshi has been at the helm of affairs at ICICI Bank since October 2018. Prior to becoming the MD, Bakhshi was serving as the chief operating officer.
Associated with the ICICI Group since 1986, Bakhshi is a veteran banker who has handled various assignments across ICICI Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Bank and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
While the central bank has approved re-appointment of Bakhshi for a period of three years, it is yet to clear reappointment of HDFC Bank MD Sashidhar Jagdishan whose term ends on October 27. HDFC Bank has already applied to the RBI for reappointment of Jagdishan as the bank chief for a period of three years. State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Khara’s term, meanwhile, also ends in October and he is likely to get a 10-month extension.
Market participants are also keenly eyeing how the succession at Kotak Mahindra Bank plays out. The bank is understood to have sent two names for succeeding Uday Kotak as the MD and CEO. Uday Kotak had earlier this month surprised markets by tendering his resignation more than three months ahead of his fixed tenure. Dipak Gupta, the joint MD at Kotak Mahindra Bank, has got the RBI’s approval to serve as the bank chief for an interim period of two months.